July 19, 2011

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Conservative MP Therese Coffey finished her questioning by asking Rupert Murdoch if he would think differently about his newspapers’ headlines from now on.

“It’s a matter of taste,” he replied. “It’s a very difficult issue. We have in this country a wonderful variety of voices. They are naturally very competitive. I’m sure there are headlines which occasionally give offense, but it’s not intentional.”

Following the well-established pattern of the hearing, James Murdoch then jumped in with a more conciliatory tone, saying that the entire newspaper industry in the U.K. could do some soul-seaching over this episode.

“One of the lessons of all of this is that we do need to think, as a business as well as as an industry, in this country, we need to think more forcefully and thoughtfully about our journalistic ethics,” he said, adding that the inquiry led by the prime minister is “a really good thing for the country.”

He also pointed to the company’s new code of conduct and ethics, which he said he hoped could be a “paragon” for the industry, and its standards committee, which reports to independent directors. He said he hopes that News Corp. will be judged by its behavior going forward over the next six months with this standards committee in place.